1. Field of the Invention
Systems and methods consistent with the present invention relate to Internet protocol television (IPTV), and more particularly, to a service access control system and method using an embedded browser agent, in which device dependence can be minimized in an embedded browser-based IPTV service, and the IPTV service can be freely used by utilizing only a browser.
2. Description of the Related Art
While only terrestrial broadcasts were available in the past, various broadcasts, such as cable broadcasts and satellite broadcasts, are available now. In particular, the recent introduction of IPTV has brought about an era in which various contents combined with web services can be offered.
For an IPTV portal service, a web browser is ported to a device. That is, the web browser is used to provide various contents, upgrade services associated with the device, and verify the device and a user.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a related art service access control system using an embedded browser. FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a related art service access control method using an embedded browser.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the related art service access control system includes a custom device plug-in 3 which interfaces with a custom browser 5 in order to transmit device-dependent information to an IPTV portal server 9 via the Internet. That is, the custom device plug-in 3 is used to transmit device environment information, such as device serial number and device firmware information, to the custom browser 5.
According to the related art service access control method, device metadata including an environment variable is generated using a device application program interface (API) 1. Then, a shell 7 accesses a portal service of the IPTV portal server 9 via custom browser 5 using the generated device metadata including the environment variable. If the device metadata is needed while the portal service is being used, the device metadata is retrieved using the custom device plug-in 3 of a device-embedded web browser, and the retrieved device metadata is processed, as shown in the portal service routine of FIG. 2. The processed device metadata is transmitted to the IPTV portal server 9, which, in turn, verifies the processed device metadata.
In this case, however, when the portal service is associated with various devices, a different interface must be configured according to properties of each device.
In addition, since a different browser is used for each device, an interface for each browser must be created. Thus, it is difficult to use a standardized web browser.
Also, when a web browser is embedded into each device according to properties of the device, a plug-in must be developed.